Articles by jkerns

TinyXMLtoDict (TXD) is a skinny XML to Python dictionary converter which works in Python2 or Python3 and requires no non-native libraries/modules. It was built to do XML conversions for simple data structures (like REST calls)…

The Palo Alto User-ID feature is awesome as long as you can feed it IP-to-User mappings. PAN provides agents to do this which work in many environments, but not usually without Active Directory. I wrote…

I’ve been noticing a trend recently in enterprise networking where managers and engineers alike are more concerned (obsessed) with the physical appearance of their rack, wires, and network equipment than they are with the actual…

In this article I will be walking through some of the elements of power design and management in a context relevant to IT engineers. Although we, as IT-centric engineers, may only deal with electrical power…

It is quite commonplace these days to see equipment mounted incorrectly in a rack. Even though we are not mechanical engineers, it is beneficial to understand the principles behind the parts of our jobs ruled…